The Heron Tattoo
by OfMiceAndBears
Summary: Universe Alteration- The Bear Children have a knack for getting sick, and one bored clan member has a sickness running slowly through her veins. Her journal entries tell her it's only a matter of time before she becomes just like her mother, but the blank spots in her newest memories and the whispers in her room are telling her something different. SasukeXOC
1. Gotta Have My Ink

The Heron Tattoo

Chapter One

Ink and Introductions

**If you're a current reader or have read this story once before, you may notice that I changed Aoi's surname from Chouko to Kuma-Shijo. That's because while in the process of creating the characters and making background information and editing the shit out of a lot of things, I had basically created something entirely new that still somehow fit in better with my original plans. Not much has changed, but I had realized that my writing style for this story was quite rushed because I was eager to get it out before I forgot what I was doing. Luckily, I found a notebook with extensive notes on what each new character's impact on Team Seven would be, and what the plot to this fanfiction really was. I have re-edited the first three chapters, and even omitted the original Chapter One since it didn't really make any sense (and was actually a huge failure on my part, lets be honest here.)**

**I would like to bring a few things to light- this is a work of fiction, and it will loosely follow the cannon series (while keeping the main plot points and areas of growth for each character). In this particular story, everything happens at a much slower pace. Team Seven have been together for roughly six months at the start, and the Chuunin Exam arc won't actually happen until around their ninth month together. **

**Since this is a UNIVERSE ALTERATION (Not an Alternate Universe, because everyone are still ninja and everything with Orochimaru and all that bizz will still happen) everyone are a few years older than in the manga and anime. Here the Rookie Nine are about 14 years old, with Gai's team being about a year older than that. **

The bell over the door of a brightly lit shop chimed brightly as two people walked in, one pair of sandals and one pair of bare-feet making hardly a sound as their owners strode to a tall counter where a heavily tattooed woman sat chewing boredly on a tooth pick, her green eyes scanning lazily over the pair before speaking in an equally bored tone

"You here for Nagawa?" She asks, her tone one of no nonsense. The barefoot one- A girl- nods and pushes her dark bangs from her eyes. "Yes, I'm Kuma-Shijo Aoi. We had a tattoo appointed for nine o' clock." The other girl nods and walks gracefully into the back, where she barks for someone to fetch the one named Nagawa.

A short time later, Aoi is sitting on an uncomfortable bench, a needle gun piercing into the flesh of the top of her hand too fast for the human eye to count and a fairly unpleasant sting radiating from just under her skin. Slowly, the man traces over a temporary outline, black covering blue like ants covering something sweet, and soon, the blue is completely gone and the black outlines connect to form a picture- a work of beautiful art in Aoi's eyes.

Black melts into hues of gold, orange, red, pink and blue with colors almost unimaginable in between. The pain soon to come is worth what Aoi sees, and as she stares at it, a look that could only be read as love is shimmering across her face as she stares at the beautiful lotus on the top of her hand. That love turns into one of the deepest passion as her eyes trail from the lotus to the fire escaping from its depths and to the heron emerging from that golden fire. Hope is then sewn into Aoi's eyes as she- and only she- knows what the heron bursting from the flames means.

Nagawa wraps her arm, and after she pays the man a hefty sum of money, Aoi and the person she came with are on their way to the training grounds.

"You know, Tahno's going to be mad because we're over two hours late." the boy starts, clasping his hands behind his back as he leans forward slightly to look at Aoi's face. She only smiles softly and walks on, the brunette next to her laughing loudly as they pass through a small opening in a wooden fence.

Some time later (seventeen minutes and thirty-seven seconds later to be exact, but who's counting?) the pair arrived to the designated meeting spot, where a tall red haired man stood leaning against a tree and a shorter dark haired male lay on the grass, looking as if he were to doze off any moment. The dark haired teen just so happened to look up just as the two entered his field of vision, and he instantly shot up and raced toward the approaching duo, angry words meant to reprimand his teammates frothing from his mouth like a rabid dog.

"Aki! You're late again!" he screeched, coming to a halt in front of the two.

"What?! Why am _I _the only one that's late when Aoi arrived at the same time I did?" Aki demanded, an incredulous look on his face. Tahno smirked and crossed his arms, his tone haughty and arrogant.

"Because, stupid. Everyone knows you're an idiot and that _I _am the smartest man alive! Besides," Tahno cast a quick glance at the female squatting a few feet from them, poking a line of ants with a stick, oblivious to the nature of the conversation her friends are having. "Aoi scares me!" he finished, whisper yelling with his hand hear his face to try to direct the conversation to Aki. The brunette rolled his eyes at Tahno's stupidity.

The man that was leaning against the tree scooped a pair of swords from the ground and made his way to his students, a large grin spreading across his dark face.

"Oh Aki, how I've missed you!" he cried dramatically, throwing his arms around the lanky boy. Aki tried desperately to get the older man off him, but only succeeded in forcing his sensei to hold onto him even tighter.

"Mezame-Sensei… Can't… Breathe!" Aki choked as he attempted to claw his way out of Mezame's bone crushing hug. Just as suddenly as Mezame hugged the boy, he let him go and advanced toward Aoi, tears of joy and exclamations of 'My baby girl is back!' and 'Come give your papa a hug!' Aoi only gave the man an exasperated look and let him hug her as she went limp in his arms, knowing all too well that struggling would only end in death by suffocation.

After Mezame's tearful reunion with his students, the four left for the Missions Hall, hopes of grand adventures swimming through their minds as the sun rose slowly higher into the sky. The Hokage tower stood tall and proud as the team neared, the building giving off an air of excitement to any and all who would pass it. Team Mezame entered and headed to the Missions Hall only to find themselves waiting in a line- the longest line any of them had ever seen in their three years as ninja. The teams that were waiting were mostly genin, fresh out of the Academy and longing for the one mission that would bring them to greatness, but there were also the older genin that were seasoned in the ways of battle, and chuunin and jounin that had seen the horrors of their comrades deaths and then some.

Aoi's team had let out a collective groan and visibly slumped, not looking forward to the wait that would surely leave them with the worst pick of the missions. Aoi almost regretted going to get her tattoo that morning, but when her hand bumped against another chuunin's weapon pouch, she remembered the beauty of it and then didn't feel as bad for making her team late.

As the minutes ticked into hours (there were THAT many teams there) Team Mezame had by then found something to occupy their time. Mezame had taken to talking to a pretty jounin with curly brown hair and pretty eyes, while Tahno tried to hit on the jounin's student; another pretty girl with the same curly brown hair as her sensei. Aki was conversing loudly with one of the boys in Kuronai's team, and it seemed as if the two were in a small vocal battle of who was manlier, trading stories of their most dangerous (and often fabricated) battles. Aoi was only scribbling in her notebook, blocking any and all noise that reached her ears.

With all the excitement of a speeding snail, Team Mezame had finally reached the table where missions were to be assigned, and Tahno instantly 'turned on the charm' as he would say, and leaned over the table, winking at the blue haired chuunin behind it.

"Listen babe," he began, twirling a piece of her hair in his fingers. "My team and I are in need of a mission- preferably a B-Rank or higher- do you think you can hook us up?" The girl looked at him incredulously, unable to fathom how absolutely_ stupid _he sounded. Her partner bit his knuckles to keep from laughing, but the hilarity of the situation got the best of him and he let it out, his laughter booming throughout the near empty room.

"I cannot even begin to tell you how much I hate being called '_babe_'." she said, her voice laced with anger and annoyance. Tahno looked almost horrified at this and took a step back, his face burning with embarrassment when Aki began to snicker behind him.

The pretty chuunin then looked pointedly at Mezame before speaking to him, paying no mind to the spluttering boy.

"I assume you're here for a mission, Mezame-san?" she asked, a polite smile in her face.

"Yes please." He replied. The chuunin looked through numerous scrolls before she found one she was satisfied with and looked through it.

"Unfortunately we only have several D-Ranks." she began, unfurling the scroll more so her partner could see. "You can choose from catching rabbits for a farmer just outside the village, escorting an Academy class to Hokage Mountain for a field trip, or helping an old lady clean her barn." Tahno let out a loud, overly exaggerated, whine of despair and slumped over the table.

"Why are _we _left with the stupid missions?" he cried. The blue haired girl glared at him and when she spoke, there was a deadly edge in her voice.

"It's not _my_ fault you and your team were late, but these are the missions you have left, and they are the _only _ones we will be giving out. You can choose to either help your village, or go home and continue to pout like a baby. Your choice." At this, Tahno stood and nodded his head, his lips pursed in a thin line as he tried to look as dignified as possible.

Mezame scratched behind his head nervously and took two of the three missions, scuttling quickly out of the tense atmosphere and into the bright light of the outside world.

The four started with catching rabbits- which was a lot easier said than done- spending the better part of the day tracking down and putting the little creatures in cages to take into the forest to be released. Aoi insisted that they be caught humanely, and it irritated her to no end when Tahno repeatedly took them by the ears and threw them haphazardly into the crates.

After the rabbits were all caught and safely in their respective crates, Aoi proceeded to beat the crap out of Tahno, barking obscenities and lecturing him about how animals had feelings too and they needed to be treated with respect.

When the rabbits were released, the team headed off to their next assignment, staring in horror at the sight of the old woman's barn. The barn was at least two stories tall, and the peeling paint was the least of the teams worries. The large barn doors were rusted shut from not being used in many years and the glass of the windows were completely broken out, letting all sorts of weather and animals in.

The group collectively groaned, not wanting to work on a barn that should have been condemned, but followed the woman's directions none-the-less. Aoi, deciding that the barn was too much for the four to handle, had summoned several apes and monkeys to help with the work.

The hot summer sun beat down on the four Leaf ninja, sweat pouring out of every pore in their body and muscles aching with the strain of hauling beams into the rafters, putting new windows in and completely rebuilding some of the walls and doors. Aoi had long since tugged off her jacket and shinobi pants to work in her tank top and spandex shorts, the lack of clothing giving her relief from the sweltering heat for only a moment.

Tahno, being the horny teenager he was, immediately took to hitting on his female comrade, who in turn pushed him off the beam they were straddling, going back to securing the large wooden beam to the wall of the barn.

After many grueling hours of work, the team finally finished fixing the barn, the four of them going their separate ways after Mezame told them to be at Hokage Tower at eight thirty the next morning

PAGEBREAK

The next morning, four very sore, very irate ninja stood stiffly in Lord Hokage's office with a few other teams of chuunin. Lord Hokage sat behind his desk, taking long drags from the pipe hanging from his lips as he stared thoughtfully at the teams in front of him.

The teams stood nervously under their leaders calculating gaze, not understanding why there was a sudden meeting. Some of them speculated an upcoming war, or that an alliance had broken with another Hidden Village, or maybe there was a small village under attack and it desperately needed the Leaf's help.

Lord Hokage cleared his throat and laced his fingers in front of his mouth, his voice rough and wizened from years of combat and diplomatic experience.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I've gathered you here, and I just want to make one thing clear; our newest genin have not been developing as well as they should." a small ripple of murmurs came from the chuunin, only to be quickly silenced with one look from the Hokage. "The Council and I have come to agree that a hand from their superiors would help exponentially in their growth, and in turn would increase the chances of survival later on in life." The Hokage took another drag from his pipe and let the smoke curl from his nostrils, looking down at a small stack of papers on his desk. "I have comprised a list of teams that would benefit each other in skill, strength, and overall personality to help keep this younger generation alive in the event of an emergency large enough to require their power."

The Hokage then went on to recite the names of teams that were going to be working together, pairing hot headed teams with more level headed ones, ninjutsu weak teams with ones more skilled in gen or taijutsu, non-tactical teams with more analytical thinkers, and so on and so forth.

Team Mezame was a team that was almost perfectly balanced with their nin, gen, and taijutsu users, as well as being a more level headed bunch, always thinking of each reaction they should take for every action their enemy makes. Their team members were so in sync, that if Tahno were to preform a genjutsu on an enemy, Aki or Aoi could go right in as well with a jutsu that could incapacitate that enemy within a few seconds without even thinking about it.

Their newly appointed students, however, were the epitome of chaos.

Sakura Haruno was a konoichi that had almost no talent what-so-ever. Sure the pinkette was book smart, but what good were theories when she herself had never tested them out before? Her only goal in life was to catch the eye of a boy who wouldn't even acknowledge her existence. She was narrow minded and practically refused to train to make herself stronger, and instead spent the majority of her time making sure she was flawless. She knew almost no ninjutsu, only the basics of taijutsu, and how to dispel genjutsu (which is actually a handy skill to have, but when someone is always in need of being saved, it was hard to apply those skills to anything)

Sasuke Uchiha had plenty of talent. He was skilled in tai and ninjutsu, could think quickly during battle and had drive to become stronger, but that drive and talent was also his downfall. The Uchiha was narcissistic and unwilling to help anyone but himself in his obvious quest for revenge against his older brother. He saw everyone as a rival and only did something if it were going to be in his favor in the long run.

Naruto Uzumaki. Now there was a name known by everyone in the village. Naruto's unwavering loyalty and commitment to a village that didn't even like him was astounding. Any other jinchuuriki would have turned their backs on their village and become cold and isolated, but Naruto trained himself hard day in and day out to become strong enough to protect the people he cared about. His only real down fall would be his stupidity.

When the teams were dismissed, they all filed out of the door or left via the large bay windows in the Hokage's office. Team Mezame were one of the first teams to take to the roof tops, moving quickly and quietly toward the K.I.A Stone to meet with Team 7.

Team 7, as usual, were bickering about one thing or another; Sakura with her hands on her hips as she scolded a sheepish looking Naruto while Sasuke chose to ignore the both of them in favor of standing under the shade of a tree to mope. Kakashi had arrived somewhat early as he didn't know when the chuunin would be done with their meeting, and didn't want whatever unlucky team that would be paired with his at the receiving end of their nagging. The silver haired jounin scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed, hoping that the chuunin team would hurry and relieve him of his torture.

"What are we waiting for, Kakashi?" Sasuke snapped, arms crossed over his chest and an irate look on his face. Kakashi sighed again and snapped his book closed, turning to look at the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, hasn't anyone ever told you that patience is a virtue?" Sasuke grumbled and rolled his eyes, annoyed in his sensei's lack of explanation.

Team 7 sat in relative silence for another hour, all four becoming increasingly annoyed at their wait.

After a while, Kakashi glanced up, his eye curving into a smile when he sensed familiar chakra coming his way. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura felt this too and looked up in time to see four people leap from the trees and land in front of the K.I.A stone, all but one giving polite smiles and friendly waves in greeting.

"Team 7, I would like you to meet Team Mezame; your new 'tutors' for the month." Kakashi chirped happily. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura's jaws dropped in unison, unable to form coherent words even though their minds were racing at a mile a minute. Sasuke was the first to clamp his jaws shut and cross his arms defiantly before speaking.

"We don't need _tutors_." he spat, glaring at the team before him. Unfazed by this, their red haired jounin grinned and wagged a finger at the Uchiha.

"That's not what Lord Hokage said!" he sang, only making Sasuke even angrier. Sakura cast a questioning glance at Kakashi.

"What are they talking about, sensei?" she inquired innocently.

"We'll get to that later, for now, I think introductions are in order!" Mezame chirped happily. Naruto then began buzzing with excitement, unknowing as to why this team was here but wanting to learn new jutsu and techniques regardless. Before the blonde could voice these opinions, Kakashi invited the other team to sit in the shade of their tree for introductions.

"Mezame, how about you go first?' Kakashi suggested, his eye curving into a smile once again.

The man that spoke was unlike any person Team 7 had ever seen. His skin was exactly the shade of chocolate, and his eyes were a striking shade of liquid gold. His red hair truly was an oddity, even more so than his skin color. People in the Leaf village were predominately white, and anybody with dark skin was definitely a rarity.

"My name is Mokugeki Mezame," He began, his voice airy and light. "But you can call me Mezame-Sensei! I like making friends, eating cake and looking at rainbows! I don't care very much for spicy food or being deceived by people closest to me; Like when Aoi-chan agrees to have a father-daughter dinner but doesn't show up!" The only female in the group sighed heavily and rolled her eyes so hard they practically fell out the back of her head.

"Oh good Lord." she muttered. Mezame gave her a wounded look but continued none-the-less.

"My hobbies are collecting rare swords, and my dream is for Aoi-chan to acknowledge me as her papa so we can live happily ever after!"

"Okay..." Kakashi said slowly, turning his bored gaze to a boy with dark hair that swept across his forehead and hung just below his chin. His hair was shorter in the back, and barely brushed the creamy skin at the back of his neck. He was definitely well groomed- so much so it was almost as obnoxious.

"Oh is it my turn?" he asked, voice haughty and arrogant. He waved one hand delicately in the air and examined his fingernails, obviously uninterested in introductions. "My name is Miyamoto Tahno; I like beautiful women and beating Aki at _everything_," cure a hard shove from his teammate and a dirty glare. "I don't like to be punched in the face, my only hobby is to make sure Aki knows I'm better than him in every way possible. My greatest dream is to have Aoi fall madly in love with me so we can be the most beautiful couple in Konoha with the most beautiful children in existence!" Team Kakashi gaped open mouthed at Tahno's ridiculous statements. The boy's only reply was to shove Aki out of the way and pull Aoi so close to him that their faces squished together

"Can't you see it? With Aoi's dark skin and my well, _everything, _they could be the most beautiful children ever!" Aoi quickly shoved her palm into his cheek to get away from him and then punched his head when she stood, curses streaming out of her mouth left and right. Tahno whimpered and rubbed the top of his head, ignoring Aki's cackles. Aki spoke before Kakashi could say 'next', reclining to lean on his hands with a friendly grin on his face.

Aki looked much like other Leaf ninja; messy dark brown hair, even darker eyes and lightly tanned shin. His body language screamed 'confident' and although his grin was cocky, it was nowhere near intimidating.

"Hello!" he began, his voice warm and inviting. "My name is Natsumoto Aki! I like kittens and cute things, I don't really like Tahno's girly attitude, and my hobbies are sleeping all day and petting kittens! My dream is to annoy Tahno so much that he just dies! I think it would be great for everyone if he weren't here to pollute everyone with his gross personality." Aki gave a thumbs up to conclude. Team Kakashi were at a near loss for words. It seemed as if the entire team were complete idiots. Kakashi sincerely hoped that the girl was a little more intelligent than the others.

Kakashi and his team then turned to Aoi, who was scribbling in her journal. "Alright, you next." he said, almost fearing for her to speak. Aoi didn't respond for a moment. But soon she tucked her pen into the front pocket of her jacket and shut her notebook, resting her elbow on her knee and her head in the palm of her hand.

Like Mezame, Aoi's skin was much darker than the others, hers a much lighter shade of copper instead of the earthy brown of her sensei. Her dark hair was messy and untamed, and looked as if she had just rolled out of bed even though it was well into the late morning.

"I'm Kuma-Shijo Aoi," She said, her voice matching the bored look on her face. "I like to run, and my hobbies are to get as many tattoos as humanly possible before I die." Aoi absentmindedly scratched at the wrappings on her right hand before continuing. "I hate it when Tahno hits on me, and I suppose my only goal is to get it through Tahno's fat head that I will never marry him, let alone bear his ugly children." Tahno gave Aoi a wounded look and Aki began laughing hysterically, rolling over on his side and clutching his stomach. Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes; this was a team of complete _morons_! The four of them didn't seem to know anything about the horrors of the shinobi world, and it infuriated him to no end when he discovered two of the three of them were already chuunin.

Naruto instantly raised his hand, waving it around as if it were on fire. Kakashi sighed and shook his head.

"Yes, Naruto?" he said boredly. Naruto gave a toothy grin and pointed to Aoi.

"Hey, you! How did you get that scar?" He asked loudly. Aoi stared at him, almost surprised, before pushing her bangs back from her head to show off a long, pink scar that ran from her hairline, over her eyebrow and down her eye and cheek before stopping just above the dip of her collarbone. The eye that held the scar was an off color, kind of milky and not the dark gray like her left eye.

"This is what happens when you fuck up on a mission cause you're a hot head." She said, letting her hair drop back down. Naruto gulped, and Sakura cringed. Sasuke, was almost intrigued, but that was overshadowed by his annoyance at these new ninja that insisted that he needed tutoring.

"Alright, Team 7! I'm sure you've all got a lot of questions, so I'll cut to the chase; Lord Hokage is concerned with how slowly the newest genin are progressing, so he personally asked some of the older chuunin teams to tutor the Rookie 9." Mezame then extracted a few manila folders from a bag at his feet and waved them around. "We will be doing this form of training for a month. Each week you will be paired with one of my team and they will work with you on the areas in which you are weakest." Sasuke snorted at this, earning a cold glare from Aoi. Mezame stared at the boy evenly, dropping the folders to his side, face going completely serious.

"Do you have a problem with this, Uchiha?" he asked mockingly. Sasuke gritted his teeth and growled, staring at the older male defiantly.

"I do, as a matter of fact. I _don't _need tutoring." He said lowly. Mezame continued to stare at him, golden eyes narrowing dangerously.

"So I take it if you were to be put on an S-ranked mission__ right now __because the village was in danger, you would know what to do with the little to no information you received?" Sasuke was shocked at this statement, but didn't show it and continued to glower at the man before him. "Hotheadedness will get you and your team mates killed." He said warningly, and Team Kakashi instantly turned their gaze to Aoi, who was once again writing angrily in the journal she carried around with her. Kakashi placed a friendly hand on the raven's shoulder, eye crinkling in an annoying smile once again.

"You've only been a genin for a little over six months; just _try _to accept their help, okay Sasuke?" Sasuke's glare faltered at his jounin before reluctantly giving in. Mezame clapped his hands excitedly and opened up one of the manila folders and examined its contents. He then began to pair up the ninja, Aoi going with Sakura, Tahno with Sasuke, and Aki with Naruto, each pair going in a different direction to begin their training.


	2. Statistics

The Heron Tattoo

Chapter Two

Statistics

**Week One: Sakura**

Sakura Haruno was a kunoichi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. While in the academy, she ranked Top 5 in the entire school and could answer any and all questions in any oral or written test there was without having to think about it. Her ability to memorize many things and have instant access to that information whenever she desired was envied among her colleagues (both young and old alike) and there was hardly ever a time when she was at a loss for words or didn't have an answer to a question in that moment.

Sakura's temporary mentor had crushed all that within the first five minutes.

Aoi had paced around the girl a few times, fingers wrapped around her chin, dark gray eyes hard and calculating. Sakura fidgeted under her gaze and wrung her hands, unsure of what to do.

"Not counting the illusion jutsu, transformation techniques, and other basic ninjutsu you learned in the academy, what ninjutsu can you preform?" the chuunin asked, coming to a stop in front of the pinkette, tattooed and bandaged arms crossed over her chest. Sakura racked her brain for a moment, searching for something to say.

"Er, none." she stammered, a regret settling like a rock in the pit of her stomach. Aoi made a noise at the back of her throat and nodded, pulling out Sakura's file to jot something down.

"Aside from the D-ranks you and your team go on and the team training you do every morning, how many hours a day would you say you train by yourself?" Sakura gulped, shame making heat rise to her cheeks.

"None." she replied quietly. Aoi gave Sakura a disappointed look.

"What would you say your goal in life is? Or your _Nindo_?" Ashamed, Sakura looked at her feet, tears prickling at the backs of her eyes.

"I've never really taken much thought to it." Sakura's voice was thick, and it surprised the young kunoichi when Aoi placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going to tell you this because I actually give a shit if you live or die. As soon as you put this headband on," Aoi pointed to the hitai-ate on top of Sakura's head. "the chances of you surviving to your 20th birthday drops by at _least_ seventy-five percent." Sakura gave a horrified gasp and raised a hand to her mouth. "When a ninja does nothing but fawn over their comrade, that twenty-five percent chance of living drops into the single digits. One in seven shinobi are killed in combat due to unseen enemy fire, and one in four shinobi die because they are untrained. If you spent even an extra thirty minutes training a night, you can increase you odds to being the twenty-five percent that sees passed twenty. It's up to _you _not to become a statistic." Sakura let the chuunin's words sink in for a moment before clenching her jaw and nodding determinedly. Aoi nodded her head in approval and wrote down a few more notes in Sakura's file before snapping it closed and looking at her, mismatched gray eyes burning into Sakura's green ones.

"First things first; we're going to have to test a few things before we get started on your training this week." Sakura tilted her head slightly to the left and let Aoi continue, excitement beginning to form in her chest. "Drop into a fighting stance." she commanded, and Sakura did as told, holding her fists near her face and bending her knees. The older kunoichi paced around her charge, easily breaking Sakura's stance with a slight nudge to the back of her legs.

"Place your feet wider and clench the muscles in your stomach, this will help with your speed and give you a wider area to move around so you won't be easily knocked down." Sakura did as told and straightened her stance, instantly feeling as if she could jump and land a blow to an enemy and retract just as fast. Aoi saw this and smirked, a feeling of pride swelling inside her chest.

"Most of a shinobi's power when preforming taijutsu comes from the core, so keeping these muscles tight will allow you to do things you wouldn't have been able to do before." Sakura nodded her head in understanding and tested out a few high kicks and punches with her new stance for the next twenty minutes, letting Aoi give examples and suggestions on improving her speed and stamina when they were needed.

"Your file says you have excellent chakra control." Aoi said when Sakura was beginning to fall into her new stance better than her old one. "I myself specialize in a style called nintaijutsu, a technique that mixes Ninjutsu and Taijutsu to create something completely unique that fits your own style of fighting."

"You can do that?" Sakura questioned. While in the Academy, her teachers had only ever talked about the three main types of jutsu, never once mentioning the fact that a ninja could merge two of them together to create something new. Aoi nodded and crossed her arms, delving into an explanation on how nintaijutsu worked.

"Nintaijutsu is very literally the melding of both types of jutsu, and the possibilities are endless for these techniques. You can't just use taijutsu and toss in a ninjustu and expect it to work; It takes hard work to get your body strong enough to perform the level of taijutsu necessary, and even more work to get your chakra control to the stage where you can successfully bring these two types of jutsu together."

"But I'm not anywhere near your level to be able to do something like that! How do you expect me to perform nintaijutsu in just one week?" Sakura exclaimed.

"That's not why I told you about the nintaijutsu." Aoi began, shaking her head. "I was merely telling you about a different form of jutsu. The point of training under a jounin is to hone your skills and become your own ninja, not mold you into a perfect clone of your sensei. Knowing about the possibilities you can create with the three main types of jutsu, as well as the endless amount of possibilities you can have when mixing two or more techniques together can help you discover what works best for you."

The wheels in Sakura's mind began turning, slowly connecting the dots that Aoi was putting down for her.

"How do you merge these two together? What would even happen if you did that?" Aoi smirked and took a few steps away from Sakura, pushing the sleeves of her jacket to her elbows.

"I really hope you don't mind your hair getting frizzy."

The next day, Aoi ran through many practice tests and physical training sessions, giving her 'life hacks' such as flexing muscles in order to receive less damage and how to properly fall after receiving a hit.

"When you get hit, most of the time it will come as a surprise and catch you off guard; but if it doesn't, try to use your momentum to spring yourself back up, that way the enemy won't get the upper hand and you have a few extra seconds to get as far away as you can in order to win. There's no shame in running away if it means you'll get to live to see another day." Sakura had been taking every piece of advice Aoi was giving to heart, excited at the prospect of being taught by a strong and independent chuunin like Aoi.

The teams had eventually taken a break for a late lunch around two-thirty, Aki and Tahno collapsing onto their backs in the grass, tired sighs escaping their mouths while Naruto and Sasuke sat cross-legged a few feet away, comparing the training methods of their mentors. Aoi and Sakura were the last two to get to the semi circle of teens, Aoi rolling her eyes at her teammates lazy positions.

Only when Aoi had settled into a comfortable position against Aki's bent legs did Naruto notice that his team had not brought any lunches, his stomach gurgling loudly in protest with Sasuke and Sakura's following soon thereafter. Tahno then jumped up, exclaiming "Oh, I almost forgot!" while he scrambled to a well worm canvas bag placed under the tree both teams sat under, rummaging in its depths for a few moments before extracting a few bento boxes.

"I can't believe I forgot I packed you all a lunch!" he chittered, divvying out the bentos to both teams. Naruto opened his bento and began shoveling as much food into his mouth as fast as he could, a content look upon his countenance for all of three seconds before his tanned face turned a sickly green color and he spat the lunch all over the grass, earning a few very disgusted looks from the ninja around him. Tahno let out a horrified, girly squeal and dropped to his knees, comedic tears streaming down his face.

"Naruto, _what on earth did you DO?!_" he cried, hands flitting around the half chewed rice and fish laying before him in the grass, acting to all the world as if one of his closest friends had just died.

"What did _I _do? What did _you _do?! That's probably the worst boxed lunch I ever ate!" Tahno reeled back with a gasp, his hand over his heart and an offended look on his face.

"I'll have you know I spent four hours this morning before the chuunin meeting putting these lunches together for you!" he screeched. Aki snickered and buried his face into the crook of his arm, turning to Aoi to speak.

"More like three and a half hours of fixing his hair and flexing at himself in the mirror before spending half an hour making the food." Aoi let out an unladylike guffaw, earning a heated glare from Tahno.

"Yeah, you remember that time he stayed the night at our house and I walked in on him drawing a face on his bicep so he could kiss it?" Aoi then turned to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, squishing her face together and moving her lips in a kissing motion. "'Oh Tahno's biceps! Look how _extravagant _you are this morning!'" she mocked. At this, Aki and Naruto let out loud, booming laughter, Naruto doubling over with tears of mirth streaming down his face while Aki laughed so hard his face began to turn a tomato red. Sakura merely hid her laughter behind her hand, not wanting to offend Tahno any more than he already was. Sasuke, however, didn't seem amused by their actions.

The raven only sat there, picking quietly at the rice that was _obviously _mixed with a powdered substance to help with building muscle mass and increasing stamina. He then rolled his eyes at the stupidity that was his team and the older ninja that he was forced to train under, wishing with all his might that the rest of the month would go by quickly.

Once Sasuke had stopped brooding and Tahno had quit being a crybaby, Aki had talked Naruto into eating the rest of his bento, saying something along the lines of "It'll help you build your strength and stamina-" but before he could finish his sentence, Naruto scarfed it down just as fast (or faster) as he would his favorite flavor of ramen, mumbling something along the lines of 'Gonna beat Sasuke... Believe it!' as he did so.

Aoi had lectured Sakura for the rest of the day, showing her examples of different fighting styles as well as getting into a mock battle to test Sakura's speed and strength, discovering that the young teen could pack quite a punch if she really wanted to. Throughout their training session, Aoi noticed Sakura began to hold herself with more dignity than she had before and couldn't help but to begin thinking of the pinkette as the little sister she didn't have, a wordless bond that a master and student usually shared beginning to form from just the short time they had spent together.

Sakura, for the most part, had never even thought about honing her skills as a shinobi, thinking naively that Sasuke would just fall for her if they spent enough time together. Her short time with Aoi had shown the young ninja that being a shinobi meant so much more than just being able to preform the basics of any form of jutsu and being on a team; it meant finding a _Nindo _and a Will of Fire- to become strong enough to protect that Will and the people closest to her, and after the rigorous eight hour training session, Sakura went to bed feeling more empowered than ever, unable to wait to show her new idol that she wouldn't become another statistic, and instead would become just as powerful and independent.


	3. Underestimated

The Heron Tattoo

Chapter Three

Underestimated

**IMPORTANT PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING**

**I have edited chapters One and Two HEAVILY since I last updated ten million years ago. You may need to go back and at least skim over the last half of the first chapter where Team Mezame and Team Kakashi are giving introductions., as well as re-read the second chapter. I have completely re-written it and added many more things to it to make it a bit longer than it was. **

**Week Two: Naruto**

A week had passed by quickly, and soon Sakura was replaced by Naruto under Aoi's wing. Aoi was strict, and set up many new rules for Naruto to abide by while he trained with the older female. He was supposed to eat foods high in protein and iron, as well as drink a weird green substance Aoi had given him that honestly tasted like an unpleasant combination of mint candy and coppery greens. According to the chuunin, this new diet would help him with building lean muscle and help with their training, but all it seemed like it did was make him need to go to the bathroom every twenty minutes during the night.

The first day, Aoi explained to Naruto what the point of the training sessions were and how they would go about spending their week. The blonde would be lying if he said he wasn't bored to tears during her lecture. The second day, Aoi told Naruto that they would have a mock spar so she can assess his abilities, and Naruto practically began vibrating with excitement at the news. He wanted desperately to prove to everyone in the village that he wasn't worthless, and this seemed like it would be a great place to begin. He was sure that if he could beat Aoi in the mock battle, everyone in the village- including that _stupid _Sasuke- would think he should be the next Hokage. Maybe they would even kick out Old Man Third just to make room for Naruto as the Fifth!

"Our spar will be done when you get this bell from me." Aoi explained, holding up a tiny silver bell. Memories of Naruto's first meeting of Kakashi-Sensei filled the blonde's mind, and he became nostalgic. "If you can get this bell from me before the day is over, then we can move onto the next step in our training."Naruto grinned. He had this in the bag! How hard could it be to get a bell from a half blind teenager?

Evidently, extremely hard.

No sooner had Naruto thought that, Aoi vanished, leaving the boy spinning in his place for several moments, too confused to do much of anything.

"You're going to have to do a lot better than that if you hope to catch me before time's out." Aoi's voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, and the poor boy couldn't pinpoint where she was. A fog, dense and heavy with chakra, rolled in from the trees. Memories of Naruto's first mission outside the village and his very first encounter with an S-Class rouge shinobi flashed at the forefront of his mind.

Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice, Haku, were two rouge ninja from the Land of Water; the former specialized in assassinations with the Silent Death technique that implemented the use of the very same mist jutsu Aoi was currently using on him.

"Your file says you're great at jumping headfirst into a situation without thinking. What happens when I take that away?" Her voice was still coming from all around him, sometimes sounding farther away and other times sounding right next to him. "A shinobi's greatest skill is the use of heightened senses. Common sense is one of them."

_Oh she's going to get it now_. Naruto thought. He hated being made fun of, and he _really _hated not being taken seriously. Thinking back to what she said, the genin stopped moving, trying to hone in on her location

"If your vision fails you or if the enemy has suppressed their chakra, your hearing and scent will aid you. What do you hear, Naruto? What can you smell?" Naruto screwed his eyes shut and held still, taking slow, deep breaths, his ears straining to hear everything around him. He could hear rabbits foraging for food twenty yards away; Birds taking flight for an unknown reason in a tree fifteen feet away. He could smell the earthy decay of leaves underfoot, and even faint traces of crushed pine needles and ozone.

Wait, pine needles and ozone?

Naruto reacted even before he could think, his body going on a fight or flight response without his brain telling him what to do. He opened his eyes to see Aoi crouched where he was just standing, her fist poised straight out in a punch that would have landed on his kidneys had he not moved in time. Aoi didn't miss a beat, quickly catching Naruto's legs with a quick sweep of her own before coming within inches of the younger shinobi's face, her face impassive as she flicked his nose and pulled his hitai-ate over his eyes. Naruto flailed before tripping over his own feet in his haste to pull his headband from his eyes so he could see, landing hard on his back. He quickly rolled back onto his feet and tugged his headband back into place, head on a swivel as he tried to catch a glimpse of the girl before she disappeared into the mist.

"Using your senses should be second nature to you by now."

"Quit toying with me!" Naruto snapped. A sigh came from somewhere behind and to the left of Naruto, so he twisted and tried to land a blow to it only to be met with thin air.

"Don't just blindly attack, use your senses! Find me and make a plan! Leaping into battle without knowing what you're doing will get you killed!" A sharp pain to Naruto's gut caught him off guard, and Aoi was right there again, landing blow after blow to the boy's torso and arms. Naruto blocked as best he could, deflecting some of her attacks and only landing one or two of his own before she disappeared again.

A plan, a plan! That's what this whole training session was about, right? He needed to make a plan to get that stupid bell, but how do you do that when you can't see who's attacking you? Naruto looked around, only able to see the dark mass that was the trees a few yards away from him. That's where the fog came from. She must have been hiding in the trees, far enough away that he couldn't see her, but close enough that she could see him.

"Use your senses huh?" he muttered. He took a glance around, not that it would do him much good, and listened again. He heard the normal sounds of the forest, and could even hear Aki and Sasuke arguing some distance away. The birds and animals were quiet, but the sounds of someone jumping from tree to tree caught his attention. He took a deep breath, trying to bring in all of the scents around him and separate Aoi's from the rest. His nose wasn't as strong as those from the Inuzuka clan, so he couldn't exactly pick out where the older teen was at, but he did have a general idea. The rusty cogs began to turn and click into place and Naruto grinned, leaping into the forest and toward the sounds of Aoi's footsteps.

A plan was beginning to form in his head and Aoi sure as hell wouldn't see it coming.

Aoi shifted from her spot in a large oak tree, unable to figure out what Naruto was up to. The blond in question was poking around some sort of large fallen log covered in long grass and moss, attaching metal wires tied to kunai to it. Aoi knew a trap when she saw one, and this looked to be an extremely elaborate one.

The wires that were attached to the log were also strung to other trees in the area, most hidden in the shade the canopy of the trees above created. Aoi knew that if she were to walk into that clearing and break one of the wires, kunai and shuriken would no doubt fly at her from somewhere in the trees.

_I'll give him a little bit more credit. He's smarted than I thought. _

Aoi looked back to the genin only to see he had disappeared without her knowledge. The chuunin took a glance around and heard his mischievous laughter somewhere far to her right and she followed, taking care not to jingle the bell too much as she moved from tree to tree. A sudden blow to Aoi's right side caught her off guard and the teen fell from the trees, falling roughly on her shoulder when she couldn't even react to the quick attack. The wind was knocked out of her and she gasped like a fish out of water for several seconds before rolling over and looking to the tree she had fallen from.

Naruto stood there with a determined look on his face and his arms crossed heavily over his chest. Faster than Aoi could stand, several shadow clones of Naruto popped out from the trees and bushes around her and instantly began their vicious assault on the girl, trying to get her as she flipped over backwards and fought the clones from her position on her knees. Every punch was blocked with forearms and every kick was evaded with a quick twist of her torso. The six clones were forced back long enough for the chuunin to pull the loose bit on the front of her jacket over her nose and mouth and toss a small pepper bomb in the clearing, effectively choking Naruto and his clones out so she could make a hasty get-away.

Aoi once again took to the trees and tried to get away from Naruto so she could asses the situation and figure out what his plan was. Naruto seemed to know that she would try to do this however, and raced after her, creating more clones who each jumped from tree to tree in their pursuit of the older ninja.

The woman tried to shake Naruto off her trail, creating her own clones and sending them different ways only to have the familiar _ting _of some of her chakra returning to her when Naruto defeated them Aoi had to admit that she had gone in greatly underestimating Naruto, and she had to give the boy props; it wasn't easy to keep up with her speed, but he was doing a damn good job of defeating her clones; even if they were only a tenth the strength of the original.

Aoi felt something pull on her foot and she looked down just in time to see a shiny wire break under the weight of her foot. The woman felt rather than heard the kunai fly past her head and dodged just in time to see a rather large shuriken imbed itself in the tree she was just standing on. Aoi couldn't believe it. Naruto had herded the older ninja into the traps he had been placing earlier, and she had so foolishly stepped right into it. Aoi put all of her effort into avoiding the weapons flying toward her at high velocity, she ducked and weaved and narrowly missed a large log that swung down from the tree it rested in.

A sudden blow to the teens side caught her off guard, and she wasn't able to perform a substitution jutsu to dodge it. She landed on her back so hard the wind was knocked out of her, and she could only stare unfocused at the blonde standing over her. When she was able to regain her breath, Naruto held up the shiny bell that was once clipped to her belt loop.

"Does this mean I pass the training, Aoi-chan?"

Aoi sighed and let her head thump against the ground, her chest rising and falling dramatically.

_Definitely underestimated this one._


End file.
